Undeniably one of the most classic labels of the Heavy Metal 80's. Operating out of the town of Hull, England, Ebony was run by recording engineer Darryl Johnston, who also had his own recording studio, Ebony Studios, where most (all?) the label's releases were recorded.

Label variations

Yes, there were a few, but they were not common enough to warrant a separate column in the table below. It is easily summarized as such:

The 4 first Metal compilations of the label came with both the early plain letter logo label (henceforth known as the "generic label") as well as represses featuring the classic Ebony logo (henceforth know as the "logo label"). "Metal Fatigue" stand out as it also had a rare first pressing shipped in a thin maxi-type sleeve with a uniqe label-design featuring an older logo (henceforth know as the "old logo label").

The infamous Ebony-production makes this sound an awful lot more obscure than it really is. Both songs are great and about as cutting edge Metal as you'd get in 1982 so as far as NWOBHM singles w/ exclusive content go, this belong in the must-buy heap.

You simply cannot outEbony Chateaux. Partly because they had more releases out on the label than any other band and partly because they exemplified the kind of simple, straight-forward Metal out of which mould most Ebony-acts were cast.

Fans of heavier/faster NWOBHM will mostly only take the opening track to heart and I figure the praise I often hear for this record must come for die-hard Thin Lizzy fans. I'm also betting HIGH SPIRITS must hold this album very high, at least judging by the 3 final anthems.

EBON 30

Nightmare

Power Of The
Universe

LP

1985

EBON 31

Chateaux

Highly
Strung

LP

1985

Qualitywise all 3 Chateaux are fairly even, though there is an ever so slight downward slope and on this their swansong it's mostly the faster moments, like the title track and the enticing "First Strike" that really stick out.

EBON 32

Grim
Reaper

Fear No
Evil

LP

1985

EBON 33

Touched

Deathrow

LP

1985

The rawkin' parts make me think of "Shout At The Devil"-era M.Crüe, but the rest is mostly type A Ebony-Metal/B-grade NWOBHM ...which isn't a total slag-off mind you. It just kinda fades into the background.

My 2 favourite things about this album is the unique, mesmerizing, almost fluorescent nuance of red adorning the cover art, and the riff in the chorus of "Dead Zone". On the whole it's a solid post-NWOBHM album and in the better, heavier & classier half of the Ebony stable.